Help with homemade incubator

[animalgirl2010]

After reading about all the people making homemade incubators I decided to try the first time a couple of months ago with the chic chick bator. It failed I couldnt get the temperature stable enough it would fluctuate from like 90 degrees to 105 so.... I decided to try again this time with a 29 gallon aquarium I took cardboard and put aluminum foil 3 layers for all sides except for a small viewing window on the side and on top. I then put the egg cartons in the bottom. I bought a clip on desk lamp and a 60 watt bulb to see if this would work well. I have had it on since this morning and now it is stable at 98 degrees for a couple of hours. is there anyway that I can bring the temperature up without raising it up too much? I thought maybe use styrofoam instead of the cardboard? what do you think? any help would be appreciated thanks

 

[twigg]

Quote:
I suspect you gave up too soon on the cooler.

It is normal for the air temp to fluctuate. Using a water heater stat this fluctuation would be quite large.

What matters, however, is the temperature experienced by the egg, which fluctuates MUCH less than the air.

Try running the cooler again, but use a water wiggler to check the temp. This is a far better proposition than using an aquarium.

 

[animalgirl2010]

Ok I will try again. I ran it for about 18 hours so I thought that was long enough but I am new to all of this. The only thing I didnt have was a fan I couldnt find one do you think that was the reason for the fluctuation?

 

[twigg]

Quote:
A fan would help, but is not essential. The temp then would be 99.5, measured anywhere.

It's useless to measure the air temp, it won't tell you anything. You need to know what the egg temp would be.

Try a water wiggler with a temp probe or thermometer inside, or a ball of modeling clay whose twmp you can take with a medical thermometer.

A fan, btw, would not only make temp control easier, but would make controlling humidity much easier. In very dry climates it can be almost impossible to acheive decent RH without a great deal of ingenuity in a still air.